Raquel Welch

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Raquel Welch / Frank Gallo, 1969 /
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution;
gift of Time magazine
 

This article is written by Greg Kenyon, an English and history major from the University of Maryland who is interning at the National Portrait Gallery. He writes about this 1969 sculpture of Raquel Welch by Frank Gallo, on display in the “Bravo!” exhibition on the Portrait Gallery’s third-floor mezzanine.

Some of my favorite works in the National Portrait Gallery reside on the upper levels of the museum. Except for the American Victorian Renaissance architecture found here, the third floor embraces the twentieth century. “Bravo!” and “Champions” have their home on the third-floor mezzanine and display portraits of entertainers and sports stars, respectively.

The stairway leading up to the mezzanine is tucked away in the corner and is easy to miss. After entering the “Bravo!” gallery, it is just as easy to miss Raquel Welch, but once you turn around to exit, it is nearly impossible to leave without fully taking her in. Frank Gallo’s epoxy resin sculpture of Welch appears in its case with such vitality that I often do a double-take, mistaking her for another patron of the exhibition. The flesh tones and detailed features lend the sculpture  a lifelike appearance, especially when compared to works cast in a monochromatic medium such as bronze. One of the benefits of using epoxy, as Gallo did, was the ability to give it color, and he took full advantage of this benefit.

Gallo created the piece specifically for the November 28, 1969, cover of Time magazine. Gallo had been noted for his voluptuous sculptures of the female form before, but this was his first attempt at sculpting from life. Gallo himself transported the work from his studio in Champaign, Illinois, to New York to be photographed for the cover. To protect his work, Gallo decided to that he would ride alongside the boxed sculpture. But because the seatbelt was not large enough to secure the packaged sculpture, Gallo was forced to unwrap Ms. Welch, much to the pleasure of his fellow passengers, I am sure. The sculpture was critically acclaimed as well, winning the “Cover of the Year” award from the American Institute of Graphic Arts.

Raquel Welch was one of the last studio stars, and although she was called “the most photographed woman in the world” by Time and the “most desired women of the 70s” by Playboy, none of her films achieved commercial success. Propelled to stardom by her role in Fantastic Voyage in 1966, Welch starred in the remake of One Million Years B.C. that same year, a role that cemented her place in popular culture. In the main promotional shot for the film, Welch is clad in a “prehistoric” fur bikini. No one may have seen One Million Years B.C, but everyone knows that poster. A child of the 1990s, I was not aware of its origin but immediately recognized it as the poster that Andy Dufresne used to cover his escape tunnel in The Shawshank Redemption. It is this iconic shot that cemented Welch’s status as a sex symbol of her generation, iconic enough to reappear in future films as a hallmark of the period’s popular culture.

In an ambitious move to be viewed as a serious actress, Welch later starred in one of the more noteworthy flops of the 1970s, Myra Breckenridge (1970). She went on to win a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for her work in 1973’s Three Musketeers, but again, her role is most remembered for the double entendres and jokes centering around the figure she cut in her bodice.

Stop in the National Portrait Gallery and take a peek at the sculpture of Raquel Welch, appreciate the vitality of the sculpture, and compare Welch’s role in popular culture to that of our current celebrities. And while you are there, do peruse the other galleries on the third floor and take in the juxtaposition of the twentieth-century history and the old architectural style.

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